“That’s comical, really,” Mayhew said of benching Stafford. “This guy’s a phenomenal talent. You can go look at his production over the course of his career in some tough situations having missed most of the first two years of his career and his numbers are up there with the top guys who’ve ever played the game.

“Obviously, we need to win more football games, that’s where the primary focus is, but when you have a franchise quarterback like Matthew Stafford you keep that guy. If we had 22 Matthew Staffords we’d win a championship every year.“

Fans have become incensed over Detroit's horrible season, with some going as far as burning Stafford's jersey. But Mayhew takes full responsibility for how the season has unraveled.